


D is for Defenestration

by Jazzie



Series: A to Z of Danny Whump! [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 21:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8594674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzie/pseuds/Jazzie
Summary: A dead body left with a message for 5-0.





	

“Remind me what we’re doing here again?” Danny asked his boss and partner Steve.

The man in question rubbed his hand through his hair in frustration, having already provided this information to Danny, “HPD received an anonymous tip about a body in this building,” he pointed at the four storey, abandoned office building where they’d just pulled up.

“Again, what has that got to do with 5-0?”

“Apparently when HPD swept the building and found the body they also found graffiti on the wall stating ‘tell 5-0’, so HPD called us to come and take a look.  Can we just get this over and done with so we can get back to the Palace?”

Danny was about to respond when the other half of their team got out of the vehicle that had just pulled in behind them.  He waved to Chin and Kono before approaching the officer that appeared to be in charge.  Pulling out his badge he introduced himself, “Detective Williams, 5-0.  What ya got?”

“DB on the second floor,” he opened his notebook and read off the information he’d noted, “Gunshot wound to the temple.  Only ID he had on him was a name badge, says his name is Akoni Hale, but we can’t confirm that as there’s no photo.  Coroner’s on his way.”

“Wait, did you say Akoni Hale?”

“Yeah,” the officer showed Danny the badge that had been placed in an evidence bag.

“Danny?” Steve asked, appearing by his right shoulder.

“I know this kid, I busted him while I was working at HPD for possession.  It was his first offence, he was a good kid, just going through a hard time, didn’t give me any trouble so I spoke to the DA and he got probation.  I kept in touch with him and helped him find a job through a relative of Meka’s at this auto shop, kid was interested in cars,” he indicated the name badge which had the business’ logo on it.

“When was the last time you spoke to him?”

“Last Wednesday.  I was supposed to go and see him yesterday but we got caught up with the drug bust, so I had to cancel on him.”

“Alright, look we need to go up and have a look at the scene, you OK to do that?”

“Yeah.”

Turning back to the officer he queried, “Has the building been cleared Officer Kellan?”

“Yes Sir.”

“We need to check the whole building Steve.  There could be some evidence of what was going on here on one of the other floors.  Why don’t I take the second floor since I can ID the victim?”

“You sure Danny?”

“I need to see for myself.”

“OK.  I’ll take the third; Chin you take the fourth and Kono take the first floor.  Officer Kellan, please keep the perimeter clear.”

“Which room is the, er, body in?” asked Danny.

“Third room on the left,” Officer Kellan replied.

The team entered the building, put on gloves and split up.  Steve gave Danny’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he left him at the landing for the second floor and carried on up the stairs with Chin.  He received a nod in response, letting him know that his partner was going to be alright.

Danny stepped off the landing into the corridor of the second floor.  There were four rooms on each side, all the doors were open.  Figuring he might as well be methodical, the body wasn’t going anywhere, he started with the first door on his left.  The room looked like any other office space, except there was dust and no electronic equipment.  There were four desks in the centre, with several filing cabinets pushed up against the wall to the right of the door.  Danny moved over to the cabinets and opened the drawers, confirming they were all empty.  He carried out the same checks with the drawers under the desks.  There was nothing, so he moved on to the next room.

Twenty fruitless minutes later, having found the same thing in each of the other rooms he’d searched so far, exactly the same layout, everything covered in layers of dust, Danny finally stepped in to the room with the body.

Stepping over the threshold he took a deep breath.  This room was different, as there were no desks or filing cabinets.  The room was empty apart from the body, which was lying on its front near the wall to the left of the door.  On the wall directly behind where the body was were the words, ‘tell 5-0’.  Looking closer, putting off the inevitable of having to look at the empty eyes of a teenager, Danny noted the words had been written in black paint.  Probably run of the mill stuff at that, which would mean there would likely be no leads there.  He’d make sure the crime scene team took a scraping anyway.

Finally having looked around the room, everywhere but at the body, Danny squatted next to it and got his first good look at the face of the dead man.

“What the hell?” Danny went to pull out his phone but heard a noise behind him which led to him reaching for his holstered weapon instead, releasing the safety as he did, before he could bring it fully to bear he was slammed to the floor, the gun went off as the impact jolted the detective’s hand causing his finger to squeeze the trigger and then the gun skittered across to the other side of the room as his assailant wrestled the weapon from him.

_“At least that’ll warn the others that there’s a suspect on scene,”_ Danny managed to think to himself.

The man that had tackled him was about to slam his fist into Danny’s face, but using moves Super SEAL would be proud of, Danny got out of the way so that the only impact the fist made was with the floor.  Before the other man could fully recover from the shock, Danny had made it to his feet and was backing up to where his gun had fallen near one of the two large picture windows, still trying to keep his eye on the other man while reaching for his weapon.

Incensed, Danny’s would be attacker seemed to throw all logic and caution to the wind and ran at the detective, catching him with his shoulder in his sternum.

Danny didn’t have time to step out of the way and the momentum knocked him off his feet, into the window which shattered from the impact.

 

 

\---- 5-0 ----

 

 

Steve had found nothing of interest on the third floor.  Each of the rooms had desks and filing cabinets, each of which he had thoroughly searched.

Deciding to give up and let the crime scene team see if they could come up with any fingerprints or DNA that might be useful, he started to leave when a gunshot rang out from the floor below.

“Danny!” Steve took off at a run and took the stairs three at a time trying to get to his partner. 

 

 

\---- 5-0 ----

 

 

Chin wasn’t having any luck with his search of the fourth floor.  He’d found piles of rubbish, probably from where homeless people had squatted in the building at one time or another, whether that was recently or not remained to be seen.

The crime scene team would go over it more thoroughly when they arrived.  Chin figured he’d head on down to the second floor and see how Danny was getting on.  He had just made it to the third floor landing when he heard the gunshot come from the floor below and Steve barged past him in the stairwell.

“Danny!”  Chin followed Steve down the stairs.

 

 

\---- 5-0 ----

 

 

Kono looked around the empty rooms of the first floor.  Despite them being empty she had been very thorough not wanting to miss anything that might be pertinent.  It was becoming clear that there was nothing here to find.

Hearing vehicles pulling up outside the building, she looked out the window to see the crime scene unit arrive.  She decided that she would be best served going out and briefing them on what they knew so far before sending them up to the second floor to meet with Danny.

“Hey Charlie,” she greeted the crime scene tech.

Charlie was about to respond when a gunshot was heard.  Kono quickly herded the crime scene techs back behind the vehicles.  She was about to run back into the building when she heard the sound of breaking glass and watched in abject horror as two bodies came tumbling out of a second floor window and landed with a resounding thud on the pavement.

There was a moment of utter stillness from the people that had witnessed the event, everyone frozen in a tableau of horror.  Kono was the first to shake free from it and she ran forward, weapon ready, neither man was moving and she could see one of those men was Danny.

“Danny!”  Kono pressed her fingers to his neck and was relieved to feel a pulse, even if it wasn’t as strong as she’d like it to be.  She looked up at a sound above her to see Steve and Chin looking down at them, “He’s alive,” both men disappeared from the window and she knew they’d be by her side in no time.

Kono checked the pulse on the other man, there wasn’t one.  She wasn’t really surprised as the man had taken the brunt of the landing.  He was sprawled on his back, a pool of blood under his head and Danny was draped across him.

“EMT’s are on their way,” Officer Kellan advised as he approached her.

“I thought you said the scene was clear!” She yelled at him.

“It was.  We swept the whole building,” he defended himself.

“Clearly it wasn’t!”

Chin came up behind his cousin and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, “Let’s concentrate on helping Danny,” he spoke softly and calmly, but his eyes were filled with fear and concern.

Steve knelt on the other side of his partner trying to assess his injuries.  The man in question startled everyone when he groaned.

“Danny?”

“What the hell fell on me?” was the muffled response as he went to move.

“Stay still Danny, you just took a dive out of a second storey window!” Steve rested his hand lightly on the detective’s shoulder, he didn’t know where he could safely touch.

“Now why would I do that?”

“I think it might have something to do with the man you’re lying on brah,” Chin supplied.

“What?” Danny clearly wasn’t quite with them yet.  Kono was worried that when his brain caught up with the situation he’d try to move, so she placed her hand on his other shoulder.  Chin also placed his hands on his friend’s legs.  “Man I’m lying on, what are you talk…?” the moment he realised he was, indeed, lying on top of another body he started to try to push away.  The firm hands of his team mates put paid to that idea.

“You have to keep still Danny.  You could have a spinal injury or internal bleeding!” Steve growled.

“I’m fine.  Just a little dazed.  I really don’t want to be lying on top of some strange man,” then another thought occurred to him, “Is he alive?”

“No,” Kono informed him.

Danny struggled once again but still his team mates wouldn’t allow him to move, “Come on, I’m lying on top of a man, a dead, strange man!”

“I don’t care!  You’re not risking a spinal injury because you’re uncomfortable with the idea of lying on top of a man!” Steve wasn’t in the mood.  Danny had just shaved ten years off his life and he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t be taking more if he was seriously injured.

“A dead man Steven!  Dead!”

“Actually he probably saved your life,” Kono pointed out helpfully.

“Really. Not. Helping.” Danny ground out.  They were saved from further arguments by the arrival of the EMTs.

Jake knelt down by his patient after asking Kono to move, “Hey Danny, what happened?”

“Fell out a window.  Can I move now?”

“Fell?”

“Out a window,” Steve nodded, pointing up, “Second storey to be precise.”

“Then no, you definitely can’t move!  Andy, let’s get a collar and a backboard ready,” Jake instructed his partner before thoroughly assessing his patient.  He established that Danny had multiple lacerations from falling through the glass, including a rather large piece embedded in his right arm.  After asking the right questions he established that Danny had a loss of sensation in his legs, so they would have to immobilise him before they transported him to Queens Medical Centre. 

Andy quickly inserted a needle in the back of Danny’s left hand allowing him to get an IV going with some pain relief and fluids.  Their patient wasn’t complaining of any pain but he was willing to bet that was related to the fact that he was still in shock and hadn’t yet moved.  He packed a dressing around the glass in Danny’s arm to ensure it didn’t move and then the EMTs quickly secured a collar round his neck and with the assistance of the rest of 5-0 they carefully manoeuvred him on to a backboard and secured him to a gurney.

Once Danny was lying on his back they could see the extent of the cuts marring his face.  Jake did a quick check of his abdomen to see if there were any signs of internal bleeding.

“How you doing there Danny?” asked Andy.  His patient had gone very quiet considering how loud he was being when they arrived.

“Peachy!”  He rasped his breathing shallow.

Andy ignored the sarcasm and placed an oxygen mask over Danny’s face, earning a glare from the injured man, “Your sats are low, need to bring ‘em up!” he said by way of an explanation.

Danny wouldn’t admit it, but he was starting to feel afraid.  As long as he was lying on top of the man he had that to distract him, now he was on the gurney and it was clear to him something wasn’t quite right with his legs.  He couldn’t feel them anymore, they had been tingly before but now there was nothing.

There was something else bugging him, something he needed to tell Steve, but he was damned if he could remember what it was right at that moment.

“Are you going to ride with us Steve?” Jake asked the now familiar head of 5-0.  He’d treated members of this team too many times to not be on a first name basis with them.

“Yeah,” Steve turned to Chin, giving him Danny’s keys, “Here take the Camaro and I’ll see you at the hospital.”

Chin nodded before assisting the EMTs to load the gurney.  Once Steve was in he closed the doors and gave a knock to let Andy know that he was safe to leave.

Kono and Chin spoke briefly with Charlie and then left to go to the hospital.  Chin driving the Camaro and Kono driving Chin’s SUV.

 

 

\---- 5-0 ----

 

 

Doctor Henry Jensen was waiting in the ER on Danny’s arrival, “Danny, we really have to stop meeting like this!  What have you been up to this time?”

“He took a header out of a second storey window,” Steve told the doctor.

“Seriously?”

“Thank you Steven, I can speak,” Danny stated irritably, “I was tackled by a suspect and fell out of the window, landing on said suspect, who incidentally, is dead.”

“Alright, Jake, Andy trauma three please, Steve, you know the drill, paperwork is at the desk,” Doctor Jensen followed the EMTs so that he could listen to their report of his patient’s vitals.

The medical team in trauma three carefully transferred Danny from the EMT’s gurney onto a bed.  Both EMTs wished Danny well before taking their leave.

“Let’s take a look at you then.  Any tenderness here?” Doctor Jensen pressed on various parts of Danny’s abdomen.  Receiving a response in the negative, he moved on to test his reflexes and feeling in his legs.  “Can you feel this?  Or this?”  He pressed on various parts of Danny’s legs.  “OK.  Now let me just take a look at your head, need to ensure no concussion,” once more Danny submitted to being poked and prodded, followed the doctor’s fingers as instructed and just generally did as he was told for once.

“Eve, can you contact radiology and request an MRI slot for Danny please,” he requested of the nurse nearest him, “While we wait for that Danny we’re going to clean these cuts on your face and arms, remove any glass and stitch up any large gashes.”

Doctor Jensen was surprised by how amenable Danny was being.  In fact he was worried by his patient’s silence but decided to wait a little longer before questioning it.  It took forty minutes to remove the glass and clean the numerous cuts on Danny’s face and arms, another ten to remove the glass from his upper right arm.  Despite the number of cuts the only one that actually required stitching was the one on his arm, which had needed eighteen stitches, the other cuts were sealed with butterfly strips.  It left Danny’s face looking a little strange, as there appeared to be more butterfly strips in some areas than skin. 

Danny had been lying complacently throughout the arduous task but suddenly it was like someone had flipped a switch in his brain and he was very aware of his surroundings.  He felt the stinging pain all over his face and his arms, the lack of feeling in his legs but most of all he remembered what he needed to tell Steve.

“I need to speak to Steve!” He blurted suddenly.

“When you’ve had your MRI we’ll allow your team back to see you….”

“No, I need to speak to Steve now, it’s important.”

“Danny…”

“Doctor Jensen, please.”

Knowing his patient well Doctor Jensen decided it was easier to acquiesce to the request and then Danny would be a lot more pliant when it came to having his MRI, “Fine.  Eve, can you ask Commander McGarrett to step in here for a few minutes please?  It’s just for a few minutes Danny.  You’ll be going for your MRI soon.”

Eve went to the waiting room to get Steve and Danny nodded in agreement.  He needed to tell Steve this piece of information while he remembered.  He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he knew this would help the rest of his team.

Steve stepped into the room a couple of minutes later, “Hey Danny, how are you doing?” the nurse had told him that his partner had been quite insistent that he see him right away.

“Steve, the body wasn’t Akoni Hale’s,” Danny told his partner, ignoring his question completely.

“Say again?”  Steve wondered if Danny was in denial or perhaps confused.

“It wasn’t Akoni Hale.  I had just bent down to look at the body, realised it wasn’t him.  I went to get my phone from my pocket when I heard a noise, I went for my gun instead but wasn’t quick enough…”

“So if it wasn’t Akoni Hale, then who was it?”

“I don’t know.  I’d never seen him before.”

“Alright, I’ll get hold of Max and see if he’s checked the fingerprints on either DB yet.  Now, I want you to listen to Eve and Doctor Jensen.  I’ll see you when you get back from your MRI, OK?”  
“Yeah,” Danny replied.  He still hadn’t asked about the lack of feeling in his legs.  He’d seen Doctor Jensen enough to know that he’d tell him when he knew what was going on and not before.

Steve squeezed Danny’s left arm and left the room, hurrying towards the waiting area so he could speak to Chin and Kono about this new development.

Danny was whisked off for his MRI a few minutes later after being given an additional dose of pain medication to help him rest as the scan would probably take the best part of an hour.  Lying in the tube, Danny closed his eyes and let his mind drift, trying to distract himself from the enclosed space.

 

 

\---- 5-0 ----

 

 

Steve, Chin and Kono were allowed into the trauma room to stay with Danny while Doctor Jensen went over the results of the MRI. 

“What did Max say?” asked Danny as soon as they entered.

“The DB in the building was a Kai Mahoe.  The body was stolen from a mortuary yesterday before they had time to embalm or otherwise prepare the body.”

“Stolen from a mortuary?”

“Yeah.  The DB that was kind enough to break your fall…”

“After attacking me!”

“After attacking you,” agreed Chin.  “Was identified as Lui Kama…”

“I recognise that name.”

“Yeah, you arrested him your first week with HPD for possession with intent to sell marijuana.”

“I remember, he was sentenced to a year in juvie.  He was sixteen at the time, had too much on him for it to be for personal use and the judge wanted to make an example of him.  According to his mother he’d gone completely off the rails and nothing she did helped.  She was hoping that some time in juvie would straighten him out.”

“That didn’t work out so well,” stated Kono sadly.

“He lost a full ride football scholarship,” sighed Danny.

“I’m also told he threatened you after he was sentenced.”

“Yeah, told me he’d get me when he got out.  It was trash talk from a teenager…”  Danny paused, “Wait just a minute.  Are you trying to tell me that Kama stole a body from the mortuary, planted Akoni’s nametag on the body and then lured 5-0 to the scene with the express desire to get back at me?”

“That’s what it looks like brah,” Chin told him.

“Well…”  Danny didn’t quite know what to say.  It was a ridiculous set up.  There was no guarantee that Danny would attend the scene, that he would be the one to enter that room, on his own no less.  It just didn’t make sense to Danny, “Damn!”

“We don’t know if he intended to just upset you with the idea of Akoni’s death and then just took advantage of the situation when you happened to appear on your own or whether he just intended to attack whoever walked into that room.  In fact, from speaking to his Mom, he was suffering from some kind of breakdown so more than likely wasn’t thinking logically at all.”

“How did he get on scene once HPD had cleared it?”

“There was an unlatched window on the first floor round the side, we think he climbed in through that after HPD left the scene and called us in.  Officer Kellan stated that once it was cleared they left someone on the back and front doors, there was no way they could have known that anyone was going to return to the scene and use a window to get in.”

“Well… Damn!”

“You said that already!”

“I just, well, I can’t believe it,” Danny ran his hand through his hair.  Wincing as his hand found some glass that had been caught in it.

“It’s not your fault Danny.  Lui had mental health issues and nobody could have predicted what he would do.”

“Now he’s dead and I could be paralysed.”

A silence descended on the room for a moment, nobody quite knowing what to say.  It was the first time that Danny had acknowledged the lack of feeling in his legs, though Doctor Jensen had told the rest of the team about it while Danny had his MRI.

“It’ll be alright Danny,” Steve said quietly, trying to reassure his best friend.

“Will it Steve?  Really?  You don’t know that…”

“No, but I do,” interrupted Doctor Jensen as he entered the room, “I’ve gone over your MRI, there are no breaks of your vertebrae but there is some swelling around your spinal cord because of the bruising you’ve suffered.  We’re going to keep you here and give you medication to help reduce the swelling and you are going to need to rest.”

“But he’ll get all feeling and movement back?” Kono asked hopefully.

“I can see no reason why not, if Danny does everything he’s told.”

“How long will he have to stay in for?”

“That really depends on how quickly the swelling goes down, but he’s unlikely to be discharged for at least a few days and then he’ll need assistance.  This will not be a quick process even once the swelling goes down.  Danny will require physiotherapy to help regain his range of motion.”

Steve looked worriedly over at his still silent partner.  He thought Danny would be happy but he looked anything but, “Danny?”

“I’m OK.  Just trying to take it all in.”

Steve wasn’t convinced but let it slide for now, “What happens now?”

“We’re going to move him to a room where he’ll be able to get some rest.  I’ve scheduled another MRI for the day after tomorrow but Danny will likely be the first person to know when the swelling goes down.”

Doctor Jensen directed the three mobile 5-0 team members to the third floor where Danny’s room had been prepared and instructed them to stay in the waiting room until a nurse came to get them.

 

 

\---- 5-0 ----

 

 

Danny was settled into a room with a minimum amount of fuss.  His nurse for the rest of that day would be Akela.  Kono would be pleased, since she’d taken quite a liking to him when Danny had been admitted for monitoring, following a fall in his bathroom that had caused a concussion.  Danny on the other hand wasn’t so pleased, since they hadn’t really got along very well last time.  Mind you he was being woken regularly and he was exhausted so he figured he could be forgiven for being a little grouchy!

“Alright Danny, your friends are waiting to see you,” the nurse told him once he was settled, “Are you ready to see them?”

“OK.”

Akela nodded and went to the waiting area to retrieve the rest of his team.  He instructed them not to tire Danny out and to press the call button if they needed anything.

The team walked into the room and found Danny just staring at the ceiling.  In all fairness there wasn’t a great deal more he could do since he couldn’t move his legs and had been told in no uncertain terms he was to rest.

“Did someone call Rachel?” asked the injured Detective.

“Yeah, she said she’ll come by with Grace after school,” Steve smiled thinking this would be the news that would pull Danny out of his funk.  He was wrong.

“She shouldn’t see me like this.”

“Like what Danny?  You’re just lying in a bed with an IV in your hand.  You’re not even on oxygen anymore,” Chin was worried by his friend’s flat response to his daughter’s visit.

“I don’t want her seeing me when I can’t move my legs, it’ll frighten her!”

Steve looked knowingly at the man he considered a brother, “Are you worried that she’ll be scared or is it that _you_ are scared?”

Danny said nothing and continued to look at the ceiling.  He loved his daughter so much but if she saw him in bed unable to move his legs… how would she react?  What would she think of her Danno then?  A single tear slipped out from under his now closed eyelids.  He felt a finger gently brush it away, when he opened his eyes he saw Kono looking back at him, her dark brown eyes full of compassion and understanding.

“Grace will not think any less of you because your legs aren’t functioning as they normally would!  Even, god forbid, if it was permanent.  That little girl loves you for you, not because you have two legs that work or not!”

“I could have died today,” he stated solemnly.

“Yeah, you could have.  Same as any other day brah, but you didn’t.  You’re alive, with a pretty spectacular tale to tell your grandkids one day!” Chin told him with a small smile.

“Hey!  Grace is only eight and she’s not dating until she’s at least thirty!  I don’t even want to _think_ about her having kids of her own!  Thank you very much!”  Danny’s hands had started flailing in his characteristic, and yes, now much loved, way during this small protest.

“Why don’t you get some rest?  Grace won’t be here for a couple of hours.  We’ll go back to the Palace and wrap things up then swing by again tonight.  How’s that?”

“Bring food.”

“You got it,” Steve agreed. 

“And _not_ , I repeat _not_ , pizza with pineapple on it!”

Oh yeah, Danny was starting to come to terms with what had happened to him today.  He was getting back to his normal self.  Steve had no doubt that there would be some bumps during his recovery but he didn’t doubt for a second that Danny would recover completely and come back stronger than ever. 

**Author's Note:**

> Defenestration: Act of throwing someone or something out a window


End file.
